Diabetes, and particularly non-insulin dependent type diabetes, is the subject of a significant amount of research. A number of medicines have been produced and tested which act to lower blood sugar of a non-insulin dependent diabetic. However, the majority of these medicines have one or more undesirable features. Some of them have significant side effects for a large portion of the population, or a large dosage is necessary. Also, some of them reduce the blood sugar level too much so that they can only be used sporadically or they can be a threat to health, and others have possible toxicity. At present there is no natural antidiabetic drug which is highly effective at lowering blood sugar, yet does not lower it to an unsafe level, and has no significant side effects.
According to the present invention a pharmacologically active agent is produced in a simple and straightforward way using only a single natural source. The pharmacologically active agent according to the present invention is a homeopathic medicine that has no toxicity, is highly effective in reducing blood sugar for diabetics, and particularly non-insulin dependent diabetics, yet will not reduce toxicity too much. Relatively small amounts of the homeopathic medicine need be ingested in order to perform the desired function.
The raw material for making the homeopathic medicine according to the present invention--and for practicing methods of treating humans according to the present invention--is the wild plant typically known as "Shilianhua"(Echevaria glauca) or "Hehuazhang". This plant is in the family Crassulaceae, genus Sinocrassula berger, species Echevaria glauca. Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae (which can be found in the China Annals of Plants, Volume 34, page 63, or Hebei Annals of Plants, Volume 1, pages 575, 576 Hort.ex Baker.in Saund. Refug.Bot. 1:sub T.61.1863-(Cotyledon glauca Baker)) can be found in some abundance in Mexico, and also in Bama county of Guangxi province in China. Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae is a shrub that grows to a height of about 60 centimeters, with oppositely regularly branching leaves from the stem, providing a symmetrical, erect, very thick appearance. The leaves are shiny, blue-gray in color, obovoid or oblong-spatulated, with a length of between 5-8 centimeters, and a width of about 2.5-4 centimeters. The leaves are narrow at the base but not petioled. The plant typically blooms in June through August in the northern hemisphere.
The homeopathic medicine is made from Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae alone using a wide variety of techniques. When the cell walls of the plant are broken, processing should be done at less than 60.degree. C. so that the highly effective biological activity of the plant components is not adversely affected. Typically, the active ingredient from the Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae plant is produced in the form of a powder, or concentrated powder. Non-insulin dependent patients typically would take 60-100 mg of the powder, or 20-40 mg of the concentrated powder, every day, and it is expected that when administered effectively the Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae should be effective in more than 85% of the population. The powder can be produced using the cell wall breaking procedures such as shown in Chinese Patent No. 95117499.1.
According to one aspect of the present invention a method of treating a human patient having non-insulin dependent diabetes, to safely reduce the blood sugar concentration of the patient, is provided. The method comprises the step of (a) administering a pharmacologically effective amount of extract from plants of the family Crassulaceae, genus Sinocrassula berger, to a diabetic patient so as to reduce the blood sugar concentration of the patient. Typically, step (a) is practiced by administering Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae. For example, step (a) is practiced by daily administering about 50-100 mg of powdered extract of Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae, or about 20-40 mg of concentrated powdered extract of Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae.
Step (a) is typically further practiced by administering the extract in substantially pure form, although it can be taken with foods, made into a tea, or mixed with inert materials or other pharmacologically active materials for other purposes. Step (a) is typically practiced by administering the extract in tablet or capsule form, although it may be taken intravenously as well as orally, in liquid form, as a gel, or in a wide variety of other manners.
Step (a) is typically practiced by administering a powder or concentrated powdered obtained by the steps of (a1) cleaning leaves and/or stems of Shilianhua; (a2) crushing the cleaned leaves and/or stems from step (a1); (a3) breaking the cell walls of the crushed leaves and/or stems from step (a2) to form a filterable composition; (a4) filtering the composition from step (a3) to form a filtrate comprising a concentrated solution of Shilianhua; and (a5) forming the concentrated solution from step (a4) into a powder or a concentrated powder.
The method according to the present invention is effective to reduce the blood sugar level of a typical patient by at least 10%, and typically at least about 30%, and in most cases in the order of around 50%. However, the blood sugar level will not be reduced far enough so as to cause adverse health consequences.
According to another aspect of the present invention a method of making an extract of "Shilianhua" (Echevaria glauca) is provided comprising the steps of: (a) Cleaning leaves and/or stems of Shilianhua. (b) Crushing the cleaned leaves and/or stems from step (a). (c) Breaking the cell walls of the crushed leaves and/or stems from step (b) to form a filterable composition. (d) Filtering the composition from step (c) to form a filtrate and then decompressing and concentrating the filtrate to produce a concentrated solution of Shilianhua. And (e) forming the concentrated solution from step (d) into a powder or a concentrated powder.
Step (c) may be practiced by soaking in medical alcohol, quick freeing and thawing, or ultrasonic mixing. Step (b) may be practiced by putting leaves and/or stems with water in an electric motor powered blender.
Step (e) may be practiced by baking the concentrated solution to produce a solid, then crushing the solid, and then passing the crushed solid through a screen, to form a powder. Alternatively, step (e) may be practiced by separating concentrated powder from the concentrated solution by separation using a silica gel column, and silica gel thin layer plates; or by passing the concentrated liquid into a Saphadex column, collecting eluted components, and decompressing and concentrating the eluted components, to produce a concentrated powder; or by extracting the concentrated solution using CH.sub.3 CHOOC.sub.2 H.sub.5 solution, to produce a water solution, decompressing and concentrating the water solution, precipitating powder using substantially pure alcohol, and recycling the alcohol.
Steps (a) through (e) are typically practiced to produce about 225-250 g of powder, or about 9-95 g of concentrated powdered, from about 10 kilograms of Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae.
According to another aspect of the present invention a method of producing and utilizing a pharmacologically effective agent of the family of plants Crassulaceae, genus Sinocrassula berger, is provided by practicing the steps of: (a) Cleaning leaves and/or stems of Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae plants. (b) Crushing the cleaned leaves and/or stems from step (a). (c) Breaking the cell walls of the crushed leaves and/or stems from step (b) to form a filterable composition. (d) Filtering the composition from step (c) to form a filtrate and decompressing and concentrating the filtrate to produce a pharmacologically active concentrated solution of Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae plants. (e) Making the pharmacologically active concentrated solution of Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae plants into human administrable form. And (f) administering the pharmacologically active Sinocrassula Crassulaceae in administrable form from step (e) to a human patient.
Step (f) is typically practiced to treat or prevent diabetes by reducing the blood sugar level of a patient by at least 10%. Step (a) is typically practiced by using Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae. Step (e) may be practiced by using any one of the techniques as set forth above.
The invention also relates to a homeopathic medicine--a pharmacologically active substance--comprising a powdered extract of Echevaria glauca, Sinocrassula berger, Crassulaceae, produced by practicing the method as described above.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a safe, natural homeopathic medicine that is useful in effectively treating diabetes, and particularly non-insulin dependent diabetes. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.